I'm so sorry I haven't updated! I know it's no excuse, but I've recently lost interest in Warriors, and I just couldn't think of anything to write about at all. ): I just stared at this story and I wanted to write but I just couldn't. Ugh. I hate writer's block. I had also fractured my finger when playing Basketball, so typing was slow and painful, which only added onto that. ): Anyway, I heard about the Apprentice's Quest thing which sort of helped, and now that my finger's better, I finally thought of something to write. I'm so sorry for the delay, and I'm going to try to update faster. :l

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Her fangs connected with his throat.

He let out a scream of agony and fear.

All she could taste now was a mix of his warm blood and of victory.

Whispers and hardly audible screams echoed in her ears, filling her with desperation. Tormented cries seemed to be clawing through her soul, ripping her in half. She had expected remorse to wash over her, but instead an ice-cold numbness had settled over her as she stared, unblinking, at the corpse of the once-alive Hootpaw. Half of her had expected him to wake up again, and blink his round eyes at her once more, but the other half of her accepted the grim fact that he was gone forever- and she was the reason why.

"Is he dead?" she heard herself ask, her voice unusually hoarse and shaky. She felt the touch of a pelt against her own, and stared numbly into Breezepelt's glittering amber eyes. He said nothing, but gave her a sharp nod. Her body immediately tensed, her muscles pulled taut, as he nudged her away from the corpse.

She could hardly believe it. Breezepelt had let her fight with Dark Forest cats all the time, but she had never attempted to kill one of them. When she saw Hootpaw- she saw the innocence in his round kit-like eyes and fluff, she saw the desperation and fear in the way he scuttled backwards, but most of all- she could feel the hope radiating off of his pelt as he stood, defiantly, in front of her. Something inside of her was drawn to that hope- she hated it, she wanted his spark of hope destroyed. If she had no future, then why should anybody else? Why is it that this tom gets to lead a regular life, while her life was full of pain and chaos?

Now as she stared numbly at his lifeless body, she could feel her whole being getting split in half. It was like torture. Firebreeze let out a cry of absolute pain before she hunched over, writhing on the ground. Never before had she expected to be the reason why a tom was going to be sent to his death.

The ginger-furred she-cat was the perfect blend of good and bad. She wasn't stable enough to be thinking her decisions through, but she wasn't trying to stabilize herself. She liked it now, being carefree, doing reckless things. Without other cats judging her, without having to worry about losing friends, because she simply didn't care anymore. She liked being in between.

The reassurance that she wasn't on the side of the Dark Forest lulled her to sleep per night, but the feeling of flesh ripping beneath her claws powered her adrenaline and energy during the day.

Breezepelt touched his tail to her ear, "wake up now, my sweet," his breath was warm as it tickled her ear. She shivered momentarily, pulling away from the dark tom. She curled up in a tight ball, yawning slightly, before she felt herself drift away from the world of shadows and into the world of light.

While she woke up, she felt a paw prodding her in the side, and she immediately winced. As she groggily sat up, blinking her eyes a few times to adjust, she realized she wasn't in her nest, but rather was positioned in the medicine cat's den. Without having a proper reason, she felt her skin crawl with irritation as leapt out of her nest and shook herself. She was ready to duck out of the den, but a certain golden tabby tom blocked her way, only adding to her irritation.

"Firebreeze, are you okay?" His sun-colored amber eyes were full of worry, affection and concern. She narrowed her eyes, muttering out a yes, before attempting to duck around him. This time he narrowed his eyes and pushed her back, his broad shoulders blocking her only exit from this StarClan forsaken den.

Her annoyance rising, she angrily snapped, "stop acting as if I'm your daughter. I'm not, okay? I don't need your mouse-brained concern, now just leave me alone!" With that she shoved him as hard as she could, not caring that he stumbled and fell to the side, before darting out of the den, her tail streaming behind her. She ignored his cry of wait and just dashed into the forest.

As the trees blurred at her sides and she wove expertly through the thick undergrowth, she felt herself instinctively heading towards the mossy clearing, where she collapsed in a tired heap.

What was wrong with her? She felt nothing but annoyance when she stared at the tom who had been there for her, picking up the pieces, even more so than Tigerflame had. Even right now, she still felt so irritated to the point of wanting to scream. She bit her tongue to prevent herself from screaming, and unbeknownst to her, tears of frustration began to form at the edges of her eyes. She grit her teeth and pressed her face against the soil, trying in vain to calm herself down.

To her frustration, she heard a tom padding towards her. He knew her well enough to know that whenever she was upset about something, about anything, she would come running to this place. As he tentatively reached out a paw and lightly set it on her shoulder, she stiffened and pulled away.

She heard a soft sigh escape his lips as he settled down beside her, his eyes searching for her own, "please tell me what's wrong, Firebreeze. I can't help you if I don't know what's going on. My life wasn't easy, you know. I can relate. Please tell me."

When she turned around and stared at his eyes, such a similar amber color to Tigerflame, she felt more tears being brought to her eyes. The dark brown tabby tom was all the good in her, as she was all the good in him. She was nothing without him- nothing but an unbridled mess. Briefly she felt herself reach out her tail and lightly touch Lionblaze's side, imagining his life. It couldn't have been easy either, being in a prophecy, having to find out that his parents weren't really his parents, having to lose his sister twice, but at least he didn't die in the end.

"At least you didn't die in the end."

Then she stopped for a heartbeat, her thoughts lingering on what she had previously just said. At least he didn't die in the end. A thought arose, something that questioned everything she had been doing, everything that she had been feeling lately. Was it that she didn't want to die, or that she did? She thought hard, feeling memories rushing back at her. She remembered her fight with Tigerflame, about how she was dying, and that she couldn't stop it. She didn't realize it then, but she had felt a brief sense of relief. She remembered how painful it was as a kit, in the snow, when she was so tired while he was so energetic, and had just collapsed. She remembered all of her fevers, all of her suffering, and she sighed heavily, breathing through her nose.

Lionblaze stared at her with his amber eyes, before uttering a single sentence, "they're born to die, but we aren't."

That made her stop for a heartbeat. Like every other cat, she had two halves of herself. The half of herself that was her real self, and the other that she had created. She had never realized it before, but now she had- most cats were just born to die. They didn't have any purpose in their lives. Hootpaw was innocent and carefree, without any worries or any prophecies tying him down, but then again, he didn't really have much purpose in his life. He was going to die, and he would be remembered by his family, but that was it. He wasn't going to complete a prophecy. He wasn't going to be deemed a hero. He would fade away, like so many cats had done before him. But she wouldn't.

Firestar was a hero, he was immortal in his own sort of way. He had left behind a legacy. Sure it would fade away after hundreds of moons, but for the time being, he still had his immortality, and she was his legacy. She was going to preserve his immortality for him, because just as he had, she was going to complete a prophecy. She was sure of it now. That's what Yellowfang was going to tell Firestar. She was going to remembered, whether she liked it or not. She would either be forever immortalized as the hero, or the failure. And that's what she was afraid of.

She didn't want to be remembered as the failure.

"I don't want to fail," a broken whisper.

Lionblaze scooted slightly closer to her, gently brushing his ears against hers, "so you're just going to join the Dark Forest? Is that it?"

She recoiled in shock, her claws sliding out, "how?" she uttered in disbelief.

"Your wounds, Firebreeze," he meowed softly to her, "the hostile way you've been acting. Everything. Besides, I know. Tigerstar himself trained me."

"Lionblaze, I can't take it anymore," she meowed, stumbling back away from him, "I don't understand why you're so nice to me. I've let you down countless times."

The golden tabby tom narrowed his eyes, "so what? Do you want me to be harsher? Firebreeze, stop throwing yourself pity parties, and just face it. You, unlike most other cats, were born for a reason greater than simply to reproduce. You were sent here to help prevent the past from repeating, you were sent here to prevent Tigerstar from taking over the clans. For StarClan's sake, stop acting like some whiny kit, and just face it."

"That's easy for you to say," she snapped at him, "unlike you, I wasn't given some magical invincible strength. Unlike you, my littermate can't walk in other cats dreams to steal information. Unlike you, there is no mysterious third cat who can hear and picture things from thousands of fox-lengths away. Unlike you, I haven't been given any prophecy to decipher. There is one, but it's being hidden from me."

"Yes, but unlike you, the three of us had nobody to guide us but ourselves," he retorted, "a fact that you've been neglecting. Tigerflame and Jayfeather have still been waiting for the message you were supposed to send them. Now they're probably stuck out there, worried and probably mildly frightened about what had happened."

"How in the name of StarClan do you expect me to send them a message?" Firebreeze shouted at him, her eyes blazing with green fire. The two cats were now standing nose to nose, both of their eyes alight with an intense flame, their pelts bristling and tails bushed out. "Send them a message about what, for StarClan's sake? I don't know anything!"

Lionblaze hissed at her, "for one, you know that Owlpaw is the ringleader of the rogues, and that we're on the verge of war with RiverClan. And I know you know more."

"Like what? Oh, here's one- I killed an innocent WindClan apprentice in cold blood."

The golden tabby tom fell quiet, taking a step back. He stumbled over his own paws, staring at her in utter disbelief. "You did what?" his voice was soft and afraid. Not of her, but for her.

She was so riled up that she didn't care about his feelings, nor did she care about the depression she was feeling beforehand, "do you really want me to say it again? I killed an apprentice in cold blood. I've been learning how to kill with Breezepelt. At first this was all for some plan to make Breezepelt tell Tigerstar, and to make Tigerstar's ego inflate so that he'd get cocky and overconfident, but it's become so much more. I like the feeling of flesh ripping beneath my claws. I don't want to live like a caged mouse- living in fear until I get killed."

Lionblaze opened his mouth to snap at her, but he suddenly stopped. "That's a brilliant plan," he let out a gasp of surprise, "you need to tell Tigerflame soon! Time is running out- Tigerstar knows he's planning to remove him. This isn't for the idea of "good", this is for Tigerflame. If Tigerstar gains control of my son's body, then Tigerflame's just going to be a lost soul. He won't have any body nor will he have any memory, he'll just drift through nothingness. I know that you want to rebel because you're sick of feeling as if you're just some pawn in a much larger game, but I'm telling you that it won't get you anywhere. The more you train, the more caught up you get in this feverish delusion that everything is alright, and that nothing matters, but the truth is that everything matters and that nothing is alright."

"That made absolutely no sense." Firebreeze replied honestly, but she blinked at him, and Lionblaze knew that she had calmed down.

"Are you going back to the Dark Forest for training?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I am. And I know that I've been in this sick delusion but I can't force myself to leave it. I don't want to leave it. At least not yet." she replied.

Lionblaze nodded in understanding. He knew that she was waiting for Tigerflame to come back. But she had gotten the information, and she was going to tell him, which was good enough for now. She's got so many problems that it would be impossible to fix them all at once, but perhaps, if Lionblaze started to diminish them, by the time that Tigerflame gets back, he can remove them all at once.

"Are you going to the Moonpool?" Lionblaze asked, already knowing the question.

"Tonight."